Nigeria’s Inflation Beats Expectations, Spikes by 21.82% in January

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

Inflation in Nigeria in January beat the expectations of analysts as it increased by 21.82 per cent, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

In the preceding month, the inflation rate moderated to 21.34 per cent, indicating that the figure jumped by 0.48 per cent in one month.  It was also higher than the corresponding period of 2022 by 6.22 per cent from 15.60 per cent.

The stats office disclosed that Nigeria’s inflation rose in the month under review due to the 21.67 per cent spike in the prices of bread and cereal; a 7.74 per cent jump in actual and imputed rent; a 6.06 per cent increase in potatoes, yam and tuber; 5.44 per cent hike in vegetable; and 4.78 per cent surge in the price of meat.

Business Post reports that last month, the food inflation rate surged by 24.32 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.19 per cent higher than the rate recorded in January 2022 at 17.13 per cent.

According to the NBS, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, vegetables, fruits, meat, and food products.

On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2023 was 2.08 per cent, this was 0.20 per cent higher than the rate recorded in December 2022 at 1.89 per cent.

“This increase was attributed to an increase in the prices of some food items like oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam & tubers, etc,” the agency stated.

It was disclosed that the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve-months ending January 2023 over the previous 12-month average was 21.53 per cent, which was a 1.44 per cent increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2022 at 20.09 per cent.

It was stated that on a year-on-year basis, in January 2023, the urban inflation rate was 22.55 per cent, 6.38 per cent higher than the 16.17 per cent recorded in January 2022, and on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.98 per cent in January 2023, this was 0.17 per cent higher than the 1.80 per cent achieved in December 2022.

As for the rural inflation rate in January 2023, it stood at 21.13 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 6.08 per cent higher than the 15.06 per cent recorded in January 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in January 2023 was 1.77 per cent, 0.14 per cent higher than the 1.63 per cent achieved in December 2022.